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Gov. Corbett, in announcing a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the NCAA, said the sports governing body overstepped its authority by imposing hefty sanctions on Penn State University in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. RALPH WILSON / Associated Press

Thomas Fitzgerald

Political Writer

At midterm, Gov. Tom Corbett finds himself in the hole with Pennsylvania voters, who disapprove of the job he is doing 42 percent to 36 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.

A strong negative rating from women and lackluster support among Republicans are driving the low approval rating. Women disapprove of Corbett’s performance 45 percent to 31 percent, while men narrowly give him a thumbs-up, 41 percent to 37 percent – a large gender gap.

By 51 percent to 31 percent, Pennsylvania voters say that Corbett, a Republican, does not deserve to be reelected. Only 49 percent of GOP voters would support him if the election ere held today.

"It’s halftime in Gov. Tom Corbett’s first term and if he were running a football team instead of a state, he’d fire his offensive coordinator,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Gov. Corbett has hit the 50 percent approval rating only once so far, mainly because of his bad grades from women.”

Corbett, who came into office in 2011 facing a $4.2 billion budget deficit, slashed spending for education and social-safety net programs in his first two budgets, while keeping his pledge not to raise taxes. He also generated controversy and earned scorn from many female voters when he supported a bill requiring that women get ultrasounds before having an abortion. Asked about this at a news conference, Corbett said that women who objected could “close their eyes.”

Pennsylvania voters disapprove 50 – 26 percent of the way Corbett has handled the Sandusky sex-abuse scandal at Penn State over the last few years. Yet 43 percent approve of the lawsuit Corbett has launched against the NCAA sanctions against the university’s football program, the poll found.

From January 22 – 27, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,221 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Live interviewers called randomly selected land lines and cell phones.